The Foundation for Health Services Research (FHSR), a non-profit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to promoting and strengthening the field of health services research, proposes to convene an invitational conference, "Health Promotion and Disease Prevention of Children and the Elderly: Major Research Issues for the 1980's." The major purpose of the conference, which will include approximately 75 participants, will be to develop a series of research agendas for the National Center for Health Services Research (NCHSR) as well as other public and private funders of health services research. Four scientific papers will be commissioned and presented in the opening session of the conference as background for the workshop sessions where the research agendas will be developed. The papers -- all targeted towards children and the elderly -- will address: Changing Demographics and Disease Pattern; Organization and Delivery of Preventive Services: Shifting Responsibilities from Federal to State and Local Governments; Financing and Reimbursement of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Services; and Methods of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research: Problems and Solutions. Three research agendas will be developed during small group, workshop discussions. These will focus on: behavioral research related to children, behavioral research related to the elderly and financing of health promotion and disease prevention services for children and the elderly. In addition, because of the unique nature of health promotion and disease prevention research, a fourth workshop will build on the methodology scientific paper to expand on and develop long and short run solutions to the problems of conducting promotion and prevention research.